7th Air Force In Southeast Asia
1966-1975

7th Air Force Pamphlet 55-1

Seventh Air Force was in command of all USAF
assets used in Vietnam under Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV).
This pamphlet provides an overview of all the 7th AF
operations. This is a large file (53 MB) and you should
right-click it and use "File Save As..." to download a copy to your
own machine.

The following history was provided through the
untiring efforts of Robert Blaylock, our Historian.

History

Seventh Air Force evolved from the Hawaiian Air Force that was
originally established to control a growing number of air units
arriving in the Territory of Hawaii in 1940. The command was twice
renamed before settling as 7th Air Force on 5 February
1947.

WORLD WAR II

The 7th Air Force’s involvement in World War II was
best summed up by its air and ground crews as “Just one damned
island after another.” 7th AF fought the Japanese from
Hawaii 2,000 miles southwest to the Gilbert Islands, then 600 miles
northwest to the Marshalls, 900 miles west to the Carolines, 600
miles northwest to the Marianas, 600 miles north to Iwo Jima, 1,000
miles west to Okinawa. A map story of the 7th AF would
cover 3,000 miles north and south of Midway to Fiji, and 5,000 miles
east and west from Pearl Harbor to the Ryukus.

The Seventh was the first air force to feel the weight of
Japanese power and the first to draw blood against the empire. It
flew longer to battle, used a wider variety of aircraft, and covered
more territory than any other land-based air force. It fought
around the clock, flew long reconnaissance missions, dropped every
type of bomb and munitions, laid mines and sunk enemy shipping. The
men of the 7th served on islands and coral atolls,
received very little recognition, and endured months of monotony.
Quoting the official 7th AF history it was, “by necessity
a precision bombing unit.” Its WW II commander, Major General
Willis Hale, summed up its work in the war by saying: “The target
had to be directly hit. The difference of 40 feet one way or the
other meant that bombs would either land on the lagoon on one side
of the island or the ocean on the other. And we didn’t fly 2,000
miles to kill fish”. The command was inactivated June 1, 1949.

SOUTHEAST ASIA

The 7th Air Force was reactivated on March 28, 1966
and designated a combat command at Ton Son Nhut AB, Republic of
Vietnam. It functioned as the air component of Military Assistance
Command, Vietnam (MACV). From April 1966 until 1973, the command
assumed responsibility for most Air Force operations in Vietnam and
shared responsibility with 13th Air Force, headquartered
in the Philippine Islands, for operations from Thailand as 7/13th
Air Force. It was an unwieldy command structure. Southeast Asia,
except for Vietnam, was the area of responsibility for 13th
Air Force, which had no combat role in the war. Operational control
was held by 7th Air Force. This strange arrangement fit
the views of U.S. Pacific Command, who wished to maintain control of
the air war over North Vietnam. In addition, B-52 operations were
controlled by the Strategic Air Command. 8th Air Force on
Guam commanded all the B-52s, tankers, and strategic reconnaissance
aircraft in Southeast Asia. They did have a liaison office at MACV
headquarters.

In June 1966, the first air attacks near Hanoi and Haiphong were
flown when 7th Air Force planes bombed near these two
cities. In July 1966, US forces struck North Vietnamese forces
inside the DMZ following the North’s violations of agreements not to
put military forces in that area. From March 2, 1965 until the 1968
bombing halt, the 7/13th Air Force flew Operation Rolling
Thunder over North Vietnam. They also operated in Laos in support of
the “secret war” on the Plain of Jars and against the Ho Chi Minh
Trail. These Laos operations were marked by “complex and difficult”
command relationships with the ambassador to Laos.

One of the most famous battles of the Vietnam War was the siege
of Khe Sanh in early 1968. Seventh Air Force flew “Operation
Niagara” and dropped over 110,000 tons of ordnance in attacks that
averaged over 300 sorties per day. More than 24,000 tactical and
2700 B-52 strikes were involved with the operation. The combat base
was resupplied by the airlifters of the 7th’s 834th
Air Division. The Division’s C-7, C-123 and C-130 transports air
landed and air dropped tons of essential material to enable the
Marines and other fighting men to hold the base. At night, AC-47
and AC-119 gunships kept flares burning to light the night and fires
raining down on the enemy troops attempting to overrun the base.

In August 1968, General George S. Brown began to oversee the
process called “Vietnamization” of the air war. At the same time,
as American ground strength dropped, 7th Air Force was
counted upon to bring the heavy support needed by the ARVN as South
Vietnamese forces took more and more of the ground combat role. 7th
Air Forces units played a heavy role in the defeat of the Easter
Offensive in 1972 and again in the Linebacker operations that forced
the North Vietnamese back to the negotiating table. The first USAF
units to leave Vietnam were released in 1970 and the withdrawal of
forces continued to accelerate. On 29 March 1973, the command
transferred to Nakhon Phanom RTAFB, Thailand. As a result, 7th
Air Force controlled air assets and operations in Thailand and
served in this role until deactivation on 30 June 1975.

THE PRESENT

In September 1986, the U.S. Air Force reactivated 7th
Air Force as the USAF component to the US and Republic of Korea (ROK)
Combined Forces Command. Its mission is to deter aggression from
North Korea against the ROK. 7th Air Force today
consists of approximately 10,000 USAF personnel located primarily at
Osan AB and Kunsan AB and in five other collocated bases in South
Korea. It flies the F-16 Falcon and the A/OA-10 Warthog aircraft,
along with intelligence, logistics, planning, communications, and
liaison duties. The men and women of 7th AF carry on a
proud tradition of service in the Pacific.